Keila Torres Ocasio, Staff Writer

Published 11:55 pm, Saturday, February 19, 2011

BRIDGEPORT -- Ordering 13,000 ballots and tacking an hour and a half onto poll workers' and moderators' training sessions are some of the ways the city's registrar's office is preparing for the first election since the chaotic events of Nov. 2.

But at least one candidate is concerned that those measures won't be enough to avoid problems posed in past elections and allow for a "free and fair" Election Day.

This Tuesday, eligible voters in the 126th House District will decide on a replacement for long-time state Rep. Christopher Caruso, who resigned last month to take a state job.

Although voter turnout rarely nears 15 percent, Democratic Registrar of Voters Santa Ayala has ordered just over 13,000 ballots, one for each registered voter in the district, to avoid a ballot shortfall that held up the governor's race in November.

Ayala said until the secretary of the state gives registrars a procedure for ordering ballots, she will continue to order enough ballots for 100 percent of the electorate. The city ran out of ballots early on Election Day because the registrars did not order enough for each voter in the city. Many residents waited in long lines as ballots were photocopied, but the copies had to be recounted and the outcome of the governor's race was held up for days.

The confusion and complaints caused a Hartford Superior Court judge to extend voting hours in 12 of the 25 polling places in the city, including four of the five schools in the 126th House District.

"We're not leaving anything to chance," Ayala said. "This is a smaller election, so you have less polls to manage, but there are just as many details."

All moderators also have been re-trained.

"We're going back to basics," Ayala said.

Even experienced moderators have received lessons on what their responsibilities are and how to respond to situations that may arise.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill praised Ayala's decision to order 13,000 ballots, which falls in line with some of the election law changes she has proposed.

In a bill recently presented to the legislature, Merrill proposed that registrars be required to inform her office 30 days before an election of the number of ballots ordered. The bill would give the secretary of the state the authority to require more ballots to be ordered if necessary or give registrars the option of ordering enough ballots for 100 percent of the electorate.

Merrill also proposed more training for moderators and that her office be given the authority to go into polling places on Election Day to remove a moderator if needed.

However, Democratic candidate Verna Kearney said the bills will not avoid problems in Tuesday's election.

"It's time we step up and protect the integrity of the ballot box before the election," she said. "Free and fair elections do not just happen. We have to make them free and fair."

This week, Kearney asked the Secretary of the State's office to appoint independent, nonpartisan observers to oversee polling locations. She complained about Ayala's refusal to appoint poll workers requested by candidates.

Kearney's legal liaison, Philip Hennessey, said Kearney's camp is concerned that with an anticipated voter turnout of 10 percent or less, no state oversight and thousands of unused ballots, poll workers "could take X number of ballots, fill them out and we have no way of proving that happened."

Luther Weeks, executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Election Audit Coalition, which conducted a recount of the hand-counted ballots cast in Bridgeport on Election Day 2010, said "errors and skullduggery" are harder to uncover in special elections because post-election audits are not required by law.

A recount sponsored by the Connecticut Post showed that about 1,500 of the nearly 6,000 photocopied ballots used when polls ran out of regular ballots were incorrectly counted, never counted at all or were misrepresented on the city's final returns. The photocopied ballots were a part of the overall 24,000 cast in the governor's race.

In a letter responding to Kearney's camp, Merrill said that while candidates for elected office are only allowed to have "party checkers" at the polls during primaries, once voting ends at 8 p.m. the public is allowed to observe the closing of the polls.

Merrill said although there is an exception that allows candidates to request polling place observers 30 days prior to the election, her office received no such requests.

Merrill also noted that Kearney's concern of ballot-box "stuffing" could be eased during the closing of the polls. At that time, moderators should publicly ensure that the official number of ballots cast on the tabulator results matches the number of people checked off as having voted.

Democratic candidate Robert Keeley, who would have to move into the district immediately following a win, said he isn't concerned about issues at the polls.

"Let the cheaters cheat if they want and we will expose them if they do," he said.

Democrat Carlos Silva, a city councilman, said he trusted that the registrars and secretary of the state's office had learned from past mistakes.

He said he was more concerned about a dismal voter turnout in a week when schools are out and many people go on vacation.

"Because it's the only race in town, people may think they don't have to come out," Silva said. "But if they want to see change, they are the only ones that can make it happen."